The Garden of Roses
by fallentimelord
Summary: Set 20 years after Mockingjay. Katniss and Peeta had just started to settle into a normal life with their two children. But all that changed when Katniss and her daughter make a frightening discovering while on her first hunting trip.
1. Chapter 1

**Set after Mockingjay. Katniss and her daughter go to explore the mysterious and dangerous Garden of Roses. Along the way they meet old friends and old enemies.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They were originally created by Suzanne Collins**

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><p>The garden of roses. That's what they call it. Anyone who goes there never comes back. Mum and Dad refuse to tell me what happened to them before I was born, but I know something happened because of the way the people in my town look at me. However, Uncle Gale is another story. Every time he comes over, which by the way isn't often, he tells me these stories of what happened. He once told me of this old president called Snow who was 'very bad'. Uncle Gale told me Snow was he one who owned the Garden of roses, he also told me of this other old president lady, who was even worse than him, President Coin. My Mum killed her. I tried to make Mum tell me about what happened, but she wouldn't tell me, she said 'I don't want you to know'. What doesn't she want me to know?! Uncle Gale won't even tell me what happened to her more recently but he told me how it started. He said that one day, there was this thing called the reaping, where one girl and one boy are picked to fight to the death in an arena with many other boys and girl. Basically, he said that my Mum and my Dad were picked to do it. I don't believe they were picked, there is no way from the way everyone looks at them, they look at them as if they are merciless gods or something. But anyway, they were 'picked' and went to this other place called the Capitol where they were prepared for the games. He won't tell me what happened in the games because he said' That's your Mother and Farther place to say, not mine." Blah, Blah, blah. I need to know! Vaguely he told me of the events that followed, I kind of tuned out because it was all, War this, and he killed him that, but when I got interested again was when he started saying about what President Snow did to my Mum and Dad, he also said how precious his rose garden was to him. Then my Mum came looking for me, shooed Uncle Gale away and that sort of thing. Since neither my Mum or my Dad will tell me about President Snow and his Garden of Roses, I am going to find out for myself.<p>

Waiting until the cover of darkness, I slip on my favourite jumper and most comfortable trousers, before walking down the golden staircase of our house and pushing open the door, like a mouse. But before I could even take a step outside the door, a silvery voice whispered from behind me

"Where are you going, Darling?" . Spinning round, I see my Mother sitting at the

gold encrusted table with a cup of caramel tea in her hands,

"I was going to see one of my friends" I lie,

"Lies. Don't you think I have heard enough lies to know when someone is lying" She

spoke again, her voice still still and cold like ice,

"Where were you going, Rue" She demanded in a calm voice. Taking a seat huffily,

"Fine. I was going to see the Garden of Roses." I say grumpily, I am going to be

in so much trouble this time, but I keep going "I need to know ,Mum. I need to know why everyone looks at you like you saved the world or they are scared of you. I need to know what Uncle Gale keeps going on about. Please." I beg her and when she replies I am not sure if it to my favour or not.

"I understand, come with me." She say in a voice like silk as she puts down her tea

and begins to walk to the front door. Before leaving she turns to the shadows.

"Peeta, darling, it's time." As she finishes her sentence, I see my Dad coming

out of the shadows. Shocked I stumble back,

"How?!" I ask stunned

"Rue, dear, we have tried to been in the shadows our whole lives, we have experience."

He replied in a soft voice. Before I can reply creeping footsteps coming down the staircase. It's my little brother, Finnick, and as he comes through the door He says in a worried voice

"Mum, where are you going?". Going over to him she starts stroking his

golden hair and replies gently

"Don't worry, my little Sugar Cube, me and Rue are just going for a little walk, girl stuff you know." She says with a smile

"Stay with Dad, he'll look after you for a bit" Finnick looks around accusingly

"Can I eat food?" He asks Dad,

"I have a special supply of chocolate and biscuits downstairs if you want" Dad says

gesturing to the basement, Finnicks still looks suspicious

"I have an old TV down there as well" Dad continues before he whispers badly

"It's like my Man cave" he says with a little wink, "ugh, fine" Finnick says as they

walk off to the basement.

"Boys" Mum says giggling, "Now Rue how about that walk?" Mum says as she struts

out the door and quickly I follow behind her. Walking for what seems forever, we come to a forest. I see my Mum reaching into a tree stump and pulling something out.

"Mum, what are you doing?" I ask inquisitively. Clutched in her hand is a bow, made

out of a beautiful brown material, handing it to me, I stand there astonished, frozen to the spot, while she dashes off. Returning within what seems milliseconds, she now clutches another bow and two sheaths of arrows.

"Mum, I'm confused" I say bamboozled, she turns to me with the biggest grin on her

face.

"I have been wanting to do this for so long. I just haven't had an excuse before."

She say admirably.

"Do what, mum?" I ask her still confused

"Hunt of course".


	2. Chapter 2

As she dives into a nearby bush I rush to follow her. Silently I wait there, waiting for something to happen, peering around I see my mother narrowing her gaze on something, and raising her bow. I try to glance through the thick leaves of the bushes. At first I see nothing then, something moves, however small that movement was we both saw it. A faint twang of the string as she lets the arrow fly and an even quieter thud of something being hit. Running over we discover a rabbit, dead on the ground, the arrow pierced right through it's eye. "Yup, still got it." I hear my mother whisper, I am not sure if she is delighted or terrified by this. Picking up the rabbit we make our way through the ocean of trees and branches until finally we make it into a large clearing by a lake. At the edge there is a small hut, before I can even question where we are, my Mum struts over to the hut, and goes inside. Within a couple of minutes we have a roaring fire built on the logs, my mother found in the hut. I am not sure how she knew they were there but, I know it is another piece of the story. Slowly we start to cook the rabbit, the silence closing in around us. "I'm going to teach you how to hunt." She spurts out, like she has been holding it in for years, and to be honest, she probably has, and I am ecstatic about it. "Yes!" I say punching my fist in the air. "Finally!" I say almost laughing. "Lets go then" She says, and I almost follow her, but then I remember why we are really here. "No Mum, you're procrastinating." I say looking down at the floor, "You have things to tell me." I say defiantly as she sits back down, "Fine, but don't judge me for what I did, I didn't have a choice." She says and speaks again. "It all started a long time ago. Way before you were born there were districts, 12 of them, we currently live in what was district 12." She says to me, before going on "Every year each district would put forward one girl and one boy aged 11-18, to enter the hunger games. In total there were 12 districts competing, making a total of 24 what they called tribute. One year a terrible stroke of luck came my way and I-" "And you were picked" I cut in, "Sorry Uncle Gale told me." I say dipping my head, but she replies with a deathly chuckle. "I wasn't picked, I volunteered." She say, agaughst I look up to see a small tear filling in her shining eyes. "What do you mean 'you volunteered'?" I say confused. "I volunteered to save my little sister, Primrose." Holding back tears she continues. "Her name was entered once. ONCE!" She screams with anguished fury, I can see this event has haunted her for years. "You never told me you had a sister, I want to meet her!" I say excitedly, but by the way she looks at me I get the feeling that it is no longer possible. "Sh-sh-she's." She quivers "Dead." In a frightening calm voice, she goes on, "She was eleven, and she was picked." She says no longer wailing but in a scarily quiet voice, like the calm before the storm. "She stepped up, and I volunteered to take her place, my life for hers." She says the only part of her moving is her lips, her glazed eyes staring at something I can't see. "When I walked on stage I could here Prim screaming. Screaming because she knew the sacrifice I had just made. Gale, Uncle Gale carried her away so that she couldn't get herself into anymore trouble." She said again, as a silver glistening tear slides down her cheek. "After all that, it was time to pick the other name." She said, as she instantly broke out of her trace, gave a slight smile. "The thing is the next name called was one I was not expecting, someone who had once saved my life." She said, staring now at me. "You know him rather well." She continued, seeing the bamboozled look on my face she finished "The name that was called was Peeta Mellark."

Not much else happened that evening, after all that I decided to drop the topic, and she started to teach me the basics of shooting a bow. I can't shoot like her, but I can at least shoot it, even if it means it lands 5 feet from the target, I can still shoot. We had fun but even through her dense smile I could see she was hurting, obviously Dad did too because as soon as we entered the house again, Dad told me to go to bed and that he would tell me tomorrow. Even though they were downstairs on the kitchen with the door shut, I could still hear their quiet conversation. They were saying things like,'we can't tell her everything.' 'She has to know, it's her right, and besides we can't really keep it from her anymore.'. I know it's wrong to eavesdrop but I kind of had to because of what they said next. "She knows about the Garden of Roses." Said mum, with a deep sigh Dad replied "I know, she can't go there." Listening again I heard Mums worried voice again. "I know, it's too dangerous." I'm sorry, but at the moment I just lost it. Chucking off my covers, I swing my door open and storm downstairs like an angry thunder cloud. "I'm sorry for eavesdropping but I couldn't help myself. WHY can't I go to the Garden of Roses?!" I scream. Looking at each other Mum and Dad say together "Because it's too dangerous" They say in unison. Huffing I throw my arms in the air, frustratedly. "But, WHY is it so dangerous!" I yell again. Scowling at them I see them sighing together again, but this time it is my mum that answers "Because, we suspect that Snow is alive and out for blood."


	3. Chapter 3

Days passed, and 'normal life' seemed to resume, but I could still hear those words ringing in my ears "we suspect that Snow is alive and out for blood..." And although they said it, I can't believe he is out for them. Today is the day Dad is going to tell me about his past. Groggily I get out of bed and slump down the stairs. The first thing I notice as I open the door is the gorgeous smell that hits me, a loaf of golden brown, freshly baked bread lies on the table, and on the oven lies a platter of cupcakes. The next thing I notice is the two extra people at the kitchen table. I immediately recognise Uncle Gale and run to hug him,

"Uncle Gale!" I say "It's nice to see you" my voice muffled as I hug him,

"You two little Rue" He says and lifts me up and props me on a chair and whispers in my ear "Happy Birthday little song bird." What? My birthday? Oh yeah! I had completely forgotten about that with everything that has been going on.

"You know Katniss, she looks a lot like Pr-" The old man speaks in a rugged, slurred tone, but he never got to finish his sentence because he was cut off by Mum starting to sing,

"Happy Birthday to you.." and then everyone else joins in "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Rue! Happy birthday to you!" They finish as Dad put a HUGE chocolate cake in front of me, with different colour icing piped on the top beautifully, to spell out the words, Happy 17th Birthday Rue with fondant animals and pictures decorating the sides. On top of the cake is 15 gold candles dotted around the edge of the top. Blowing out the candles, Dad hands me a knife

"Cut the cake and make a wish" He says to me smiling. Cutting into the cake I make my wish,

"So what did you wish for?" Mum asked me,

"If I tell you, it won't come true" I reply, with a cheeky grin on my face. Grabbing a piece of cake, I stuff a great big chunk into my mouth and immediately start to melt inside. It is the BEST chocolate cake ever, the mixture of a rich, velvety cake, and sweet, smooth icing, it seems like gods gift. Finishing my mouthful I turn to Dad

"Dad, did you make this cake?" I ask him brandishing what is left of my piece. In return I get a little modest nod. "It's so yummy. Chocolate is my favourite" I smile.

"He was the bakers son, best baker I have ever seen." She said smiling, before going over to him and giving him a small kiss

"Mum not at the table, some people are trying to eat here!" I say, and everyone starts to laugh. Turning to the old man with a small glass of whiskey in his hand, "Wait Mum.." I say inquisitively "Who's this?" I ask pointing at him "No offence or anything" I say to him

"None taken" He replies, relaxing back into his chair.

"Oh sorry darling this is Haymitch Abernathy, an old friend you could say." She says in return to the question

"An old friend!" He slurred angrily "I've saved your life thousands of times, and I still count as an old friend, eh!" With a roll of her eyes Mum replies

"You saved his life once maybe by sending medicine, so, yeah you count as an old friend." With a snigger her takes a slurp of his whiskey.

"So Mum what are the plans for today?" I ask her, and a knowing glance goes between her and Uncle Gale, but neither of them say anything "What is it?" I ask confused,

"Well I thought you might like to try this out" Mum says as she pulls out a long thin bow from behind her back, while next to her Uncle Gale pulls out a leather slither packed with around 20 arrows. Taking the presents from their hands, I stare open-mouthed at the weapon in my hand, smooth and sleek in my hand, the bow -made of a dark, mahogany like, wood- had a stunning pattern carved into the handle, of the bow. Without saying anything, I jump out of my seat and run to them, colliding into a giant hug. My brain was forming millions of things to say but my mouth would not formulate the words.

"Oh sorry, before I forget here's my thing for you" Dad says holding out a short thin knife, and sheath. Running my hand over the blade Dad explains, "It's a throwing knife, though it is quite adequate for skinning animals and for fighting, though I doubt you will need it for that purpose." He says. Just as I turn to go get changed into some comfy clothes Mum says to me

"Wear the new thing in your closet, I want to see if it fits". Beaming, I race upstairs and fling open my closet, inside hanging on the rail is a set of dark brown leather clothes. There is a short sleeved shirt, that looks quite tight, but has a belt line across just where my sides curve with room for weapons and other such like, and when I try it on, to my surprise it fits like a glove. Next are the leather trousers in the closet, they are the same in style to the shirt and again are a perfect fit. To finish the outfit are a pair of walking boots with fur lining the inside, and finally is a jacket, just like the one Mum always wear, with fur covering the inside like the boots. Strapping the knife to my belt, and swinging both the bow and the arrows over my shoulders I strut down stairs.

"So how do I look" I say giving a small turn as I enter the kitchen, surprisingly it is Finnick who speaks first

"What no fair!" he yells "How come SHE gets hunting stuff and I don't! I'm thirteen!" He says huffily, Mum gives a small sigh

"When you're as old as your sister, THEN you can have gear" She says exasperated, and he folds his arms moodily, glancing at him I give him a small wink,

"Later little brother" I say ruffling his hair as I go, just before we leave I can see him scowling at me.


	4. Chapter 4

Creeping through the forest seemed natural to me. Every rustle of a tree branch, every snap of a twig excited me more. My mother seemed to feel the same. An light was shimmering in her eyes, something I had not seen before. The world outside melted away the deeper we went into the forest. We have been out for hours, and I have now managed to get a decent grip of my bow. Altogether we have managed to shoot two squirrels and a rabbit.

"Thank you for taking me out today, Mum. I have had the best time." I whispered smiling up at her.

"It was my pleasure." She replied as she kissed my forehead. This moment is perfect, but a sudden shooting pain in my leg slices me from this dream. I watch as my mothers iris go full and her face turn into complete fury. She whips around draws her bow and fires. The arrow flies through the air with deadly precision. I know it strikes it's mark when I hear a moan from around 50 metres away. Like a tiger going for a kill she pounces upon the shooter and drags him, screaming back towards me. I try to stand up but my injured leg collapses under me. With wild force she throw the man down in front of me. The man does not look very old, maybe late twenties, early thirties, but his face is covered in scars and his eyes are blood shot. He has a square face, grimacing in pain.

"Who are you?" My mother asks murderously.

"Why would I tell you?" He says before spitting down at her feet. As fast a lightning she grabs the arrow buried in his right shoulder and twists. He lets out a agonising scream.

"I say again. _Who are You_?" She says venomously

"My name is Michael Storm." He says desperately, his face contorted in pain.

"Okay, Michael. What are you doing here." And yet he stays silent. " I _said_ what are you doing here?" She repeated giving the arrow and fierce twist.

"I can't." He cries out. "Please stop. _Please_." He whimpers.

"Why?" She says twisting the arrow one more time.

"He'll kill me. Please."

"Who will kill you?" I pipe in. The sight of his unbearable pain is starting to get to me and I want this over and done with.

"I can't" He whimpers, tears rolling down his face. My mother presses weight into the arrow and it pierces closer into the muscles tissue. He cries out .

"Snow!" A thick blanket of silence covers the forest. It is like every creature know who he is and what danger he poses to this world.

"Say that again." My mother said her face now as white as death.

"Snow sent me" He says gasping. "He told me to shoot anyone I saw."

"Do you know who I am?" My mother said regaining herself. He looked up at her and nodded fearfully. "So you know what I am capable of, and how far I am willing to go." Again he nodded. "You made a huge mistake shooting my daughter, Michael." She finished raising her bow and locking an arrow. Ignoring the pain in my leg I stepped between her and the man.

"Rue, get out of the way." She said her eyes focused on the man behind me.

"No. I am not going to let you kill a man." I stated

"It's not like I have never killed before."

"You only killed President Coin, who needed to be stopped at whatever cost."

"Not true." She replied her voice as cold as ice.

"So you didn't kill her?" I asked confused.

"Oh I did kill her. But she wasn't the only one." She replied. I don't know what to say. I

don't know what I thought, I just thought that my Mum was a good person. Now? I don't know.

"You still can't kill him." Finally she looks into my eyes. I don't know how long it lasted

but in that moment she gave way. She walked back over to Michael and grabbed his shirt.

"Tell me how to find Snow and you live." She commanded blankly.

"Go to the edge of the forest and walk to the great Mountains. Between the first two lies the Garden of Roses. He will be there." He finished as my mother let him drop to the floor. "But beware." He added just as we were starting to walk off. "It is his home, he know it better than anyone. No-one come out alive. especially not you Mrs. Everdeen. Good Luck, you'll need it."


End file.
